The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) on Tuesday, Sept. 7, has expressed its readiness for the conduct of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Solidarity Vaccine Trial (SVT) on coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines.
DOST Undersecretary for Research and Development (R&D) Dr. Rowena Cristina L. Guevara of the Task Group on Vaccine Evaluation and Selection (TG-VES) said they are only waiting for the WHO’s go signal to proceed with the trial.
“Patuloy ang ating paghahanda para sa (We continue to prepare for the) WHO Solidarity Trial for vaccines. Ang pilot hospital sites, trial teams at mga supplies na kinakailangan para sa trial ay nakahanda na (The pilot hospital sites, trial teams and supplies needed for the trial are ready),” Guevara said in a public briefing.
“Nag-aantay na lang tayo ng pormal na anunsyo na manggagaling sa WHO para sa global at local launching para sa nasabing pag-aaral (We are just waiting for the formal announcement from WHO for the global and local launching of the said study),” she added.
Guevara noted that the vaccine trial will be conducted globally and not just in the Philippines, adding that the WHO ensures that each participating country are prepared for the trials.
Moreover, the WHO has also reviewed what brands of vaccine to include in the trial following the emergence of new coronavirus variants that could affect the efficacy of the vaccines.
“Kabilang sa layunin ng WHO Solidarity Vaccine Trials ay malaman kung gaano ka-epektibo ang mga vaccines na aaralin sa mga variants of concern na meron sa bansa (One of the goals of the WHO Solidarity Vaccine Trials is to find out how effective the vaccines to be studied against the variants of concern detected in the country,” she said.
“Ang target population ng nasabing pag-aaral ay age groups na 16 years old at pataas (The target population of the said study is age group of 16 years old and above),” she added.